After September 11, 2001, U.S. officials authorized the cruel treatment and torture of prisoners held in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, and the CIA's secret prisons overseas.

This database documents the U.S. government's official experiment with torture. At present, the database contains well over 100,000 pages of government documents obtained primarily through Freedom of Information Act litigation and requests filed by the ACLU, and through litigation of Salim v. Mitchell, a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of the survivors and the family of a dead victim of the CIA torture program. To learn more about the database, please read the About and Search Help pages. If you're a developer, you can also access this data through our API.

Search Result (72)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Apr. 12, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 705

Battalion Commander's letter re: actions and inactions at AG, which led to prisoner abuse. Acknowledged responsibility for all actions taken by soldiers assigned to the 320th MP BN, discussed that "egregious acts were committed in wing 1A ...

Mar. 03, 2005
Letter
Janis Leigh Karpinski
Physical assault, Sexual
May 14, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 797
This statement of the Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade discusses his assumption of command of the military intelligence operations component at Abu Ghraib prison in July 2003. He discusses his chain of ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Walter Wojdakowski, Ricardo Sanchez, Steven Boltz, Geoffrey D. Miller, Barbara G. Fast, Donald J. Ryder, Janis Leigh Karpinski
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Sleep deprivation, Other Humiliation, Other
Feb. 01, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 813
This statement is made by the Navy's Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC) of the Navy Military Working Dogs (MWD) used at Abu Ghraib prison. He is a Petty Officer and a senior dog handler. As it pertains to Rules of Engagement (ROE) for the ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Antonio Taguba, David D. McKiernan
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Threat, Use of phobias
June 04, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 819
[Handwritten, at times illegible] Interviewee was a member of Military Intelligence arrived to AG on or about October 24, 2003, answered that he/she never witnessed detainee abuse or sexual assault. Interviewee did attest to the nudity of ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Questionnaire)
Thomas Pappas
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Sexual, General, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Nudity, Forced physical training
May 29, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 828
This statement by a Military Officer is a detailed report on several incidents of detainee abuse and misconduct by military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 & 2004. There are allegations that are described as merely being herd of and some ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Thomas Pappas, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Barbara G. Fast, Steven Boltz, Ricardo Sanchez
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Use of phobias, Nudity
June 06, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 879
Interviewee was assigned to AG from late May 2003 to early November 2003 as a Military Police Guard for the 72nd MP Company. Interviewee recalled an incident when another officer called him over to look at a naked detainee for the purpose of ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
DOD | ACLU-RDI 884
Document is a transcript of a Staff Judge Advocate assigned to AG from November 26, 2003 to December 14, 2003. Described development of interrogation, the interrogation rules of engagement (IROE). Iraq interrogation policy "utilized Guantanamo ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Questionnaire)
Ricardo Sanchez, Thomas Pappas, Geoffrey D. Miller, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Barbara G. Fast
Physical assault, Sexual, Use of phobias
June 10, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 895
Memo discusses notes taken on June 9, 2004 from a telephonic interview with [redacted] concerning his knowledge of abuse at AG. The interviewee stated he never observed or heard of detainee abuse and/or nudity. Interviewee did state he believed ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Physical assault, Sexual, Isolation, Nudity
July 26, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 147
Investigation initiated after Playboy Magazine published an article in May 2004, titled “Death and Dishonor,” alleging that soldiers of the 1/15th Infantry Battalion, 3d Brigade, 3d Infantry Division (Ft. Benning, GA), committed numerous war ...
Mar. 02, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Pamela Andrews, Thom Jones
Physical assault, Sexual, General
July 01, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 13

On 1/18/04, a detainee gave a statement about abuse he had suffered at Abu Ghraib and also stated that he had witnessed a translator forcibly sodomizing a male juvenile detainee while a female U.S. soldier observed and took pictures. (This ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Charles A. Graner, Jr., Ivan L. Frederick, II, Megan M. Ambuhl, Javal Sean Davis, Sabrina D. Harman
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Stress positions, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual